2024 Exit Interviews, Key Player Takeaways – Disappointment + Contracts, Injuries, Illnesses, World Championships,

“It’s always hard when you don’t meet the expectation, meet the goals, which certainly weren’t met this year.”

Captain Anze Kopitar was the first of 14 players to speak on Exit Interview day in El Segundo, as the LA Kings players put public closure on their 2023-24 season. When the message is what it was above, it certainly doesn’t paint the picture of a rosy morning for a team that set out with ambition and expectations of taking that next step. The result, unfortunately, wasn’t that.

“I feel like we’ve been in the same spot here three years in a row, where it’s taking the next step, and we’ve stayed in the same spot,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added.

For the third consecutive season, the Kings are speaking after an earlier than expected exit from the postseason. In 2022, the expectations were low and simply qualifying for the playoffs was a win. Last season was a step forward in terms of expectations but also in performance. Felt like the group on the verge of taking the next step. Now, with expectations rising, the result has remained the same. From the perspective of the many players who spoke today,

“Our objective this season was to win the first round and see what we could do going forward,” defenseman Drew Doughty added. “It’s unfortunate we were unable to do that.”

Today was the day for the players, with front office availability expected to come in the days that follow. Players conducted their exit medicals today, but have not yet met with management following the season. Those meetings are expected in the coming days and we’ll hear from those within the organization following those meetings.

For today, we heard from the players on a number of different front, but the prevailing notion was that of a disappointing season within the group. I’ll have the videos posted entirety over the next couple of days with commentary and thoughts on the comments.

Diving into that a bit deeper here over the coming days, but for now, the immediate nuts and bolts from exit interviews, with updates on contracts, injuries, illnesses, World Championships participation and a bit more.

Contracts
Of the players who spoke today, we heard from three unrestricted free agents – Viktor Arvidsson, Matt Roy and Cam Talbot – and one restricted free agent – Quinton Byfield.

Regarding Arvidsson and Roy, both players are in the final season of their contracts with the Kings. Arvidsson has now played three seasons with the Kings, after he was acquired from Nashville in the summer of 2021.

Both players indicated that they have not really had much in terms of conversation with regards to re-signing with the Kings. Both players seemed interested in coming back, but it’s also a business and it could be the contract that both players are able to maximize financially, with where they are at in their respective careers.

Roy hits unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career, at age 28. It’s a lifechanging contract coming up for Roy. He’s hitting unrestricted free agency coming off establishing himself as an NHL regular and an NHL contributor. He noted that his camp touched base with the Kings around the holidays, but after what happened with the Kings in January, all negotiations were tabled for the offseason.

“I love this team and I love the guys on the team, it’s obviously a great place to play,” Roy said. “I’d be more than happy to stay and obviously it’s a business for both the team and myself. I’m going into the summer open minded and we’ll see what comes my way and go from there.”

For Arvidsson, the ability to play games at the end of the season was big for him personally. When initially faced with the prospect of surgery, Arvidsson decided to have it back in October because the return timeline set him up to play games again before the end of the season and the playoffs. As a pending UFA, there was an importance to that and Arvidsson was appreciative of the Kings staff for helping him to come back the way he did and he was allowed to simply focus on his rehab. As far as returning, he said he’ll talk with his agent, he’ll talk with management here over the next couple of days and see where things go.

Regarding goaltender Cam Talbot, he expressed several times that he would like to remain with the Kings. At this point in career, at 36-years-old, Talbot prioritized two things with regards to his next contract – the ability to win and situational stability. He’s a father who has moved his family around several times throughout his career. He’s played for seven teams in 10 years, as he admitted, and he expressed a desire to remain in one place, ideally on a multi-year contract. It’s clear he’d like that place to be Los Angeles, but again, it’s a business and that factors into play. The Kings have zero players under contract for next season at the goaltending position, at any level, so it’s an open book.

Regarding Byfield, he noted he really hasn’t put much time and attention at all into his impending restricted free agency.

“Honestly, I haven’t had too much thought about that, but I’ll talk to my agent and see where that goes this summer.”

There’s pretty much no uncertainty that Byfield won’t be back with the Kings, it just comes down to under what terms. Byfield could sign anywhere from a one-year contract to an eight-year contract. He is a restricted free agent and his next contract is likely the biggest financial commitment the Kings have to make this summer. Interested to see where he lands, but there are a number of options on the table.

Injuries & Illnesses
The biggest reveal with regards to injury was center Phillip Danault.

Danault revealed that he was playing with two broken fingers. He broke his right index finger in late-March, in Edmonton, during the regular season and then his left index finger during Game 2 of the postseason. Danault said the first injury was why he missed a few games during regular-season play. Came down to pain management, which he managed throuhgout the postseason. No surgery required for his injury and he’s expected to make a full recovery in plenty of time to get prepared for next season.

“The two fingers were broken, that was my challenge,” Danault said today. “[The right one] was broken for probably a month, I broke it in Edmonton actually, that was why i was out for a few games, it was too sharp a pain, so I dealt with it and started playoffs with the pain as well. [The left one] happened during Game 2. It was a finger broken year I guess.”

Danault added that the fingers impacted him with shooting the puck, in puck battles and on faceoffs as well, especially once one broken finger became two broken fingers. “It was a little scary sometimes……little details were a little bit harder for me.”

For forward Quinton Byfield, he said today that he was battling an “illness” down the stretch of the season, which coincided a bit with his production dipping over the final stretch of games. Byfield said it was different than the illness he was fighting off last November, when he lost a ton of weight and had to go down to the AHL to find his form again, but didn’t elaborate further.

Perhaps part of the growth process for him is managing himself through something like an illness down the stretch.

“I ran into an illness, I was battling an illness for awhile at the end of the year,” Byfield said. “Some of those nights, it was tough, I was just trying to make it through the game, but it’s a part of it, you’ve got to play through a lot of stuff and do what you can to help the team. That was one of those things.”

For the rest of the group, there was mentions of bumps and bruises along the way, but nothing major coming out of the series.

Defenseman Mikey Anderson indicated that he missed the time he did in Game 5 to be evaluated by the concussion spotter but just got the wind knocked out of him after his collision with Connor McDavid. On forward Viktor Arvidsson, he felt 100 percent off of his second injury and was 100 percent both going into and coming out of the playoffs. Arvidsson said he wouldn’t have played in the postseason if he wasn’t 100 percent, considering the season he had.

Otherwise, a generally clean bill of health from those who spoke today. Will defer towards Rob Blake’s availability in the coming days for further updates.

World Championships
No firm commitments from the Kings with regards to playing in the World Championships.

There were some no’s, though. Trevor Moore and Matt Roy both declined to play for Team USA for various of their own reasons, while Byfield was offered a spot from Team Canada General Manager Rick Nash but declined as well, noting he needs to take the time to get his body right after the aforementioned illness.

On the Team Canada front, Doughty also said he had a call and the possibility of playing is perhaps greater this season than in seasons past. Doughty admitted he’d like to add a gold medal from the World Championships to his many international honors and that the opportunity to perhaps captain Team Canada would be a “huge honor” for him. He’s also a father of three and this would be his first extended stretch of time to spend with his children, which is the main factor he’s balancing out. Canada announced a preliminary roster earlier today, with seven defensemen not including Doughty. Likely just one other spot on that team, should he opt to go.

For Team Sweden, both Adrian Kempe and Viktor Arvidsson have had communication with regards to playing. For Arvidsson, he said his health is the number-one priority. He has a call scheduled with team management later on today and he’ll make his decision from there, evaluating participating versus making sure he’s ready to go heading into the summer. Kempe admitted the timing is tough, because you get the call almost the second you lose in the playoffs. He also sees the World Championships perhaps as a chance to re-write the ending to his season.

“We’ll see what happens, it sucks to lose, but it’s fun to get an opportunity to play a little bit more and have a chance to win something,” Kempe said. “It’d be nice to keep playing for a little bit, so we’ll see what happens.”

Sounds like Kevin Fiala is considering as well for Switzerland and there are others who did not speak today who could be in contention for places in different areas.

There was honestly so much more from today.

Lots of discussion about the 1-3-1 and the team’s systems and some honest answers from the players about potentially opening up the system going forward. Accountability and honesty from Pierre-Luc Dubois, who understands that the season that he had was not good enough. He understands the possibilities of this summer and his comments directed were that of a player who will do what it takes to get back on track. Acknowledgement of an unknown future for the organization in a few areas, though the players aren’t the ones making those decisions.

Every video from today will be available on YouTube on the LA Kings channel. As noted, I will roll them out here with additional thoughts and commentary over the next few days. For today, it’s time to unplug. Will start with the remainder of interviews tomorrow afternoon, beginning with team captains.